You are using an older browser version. Please use a supported version for the best MSN experience.

Munich gunman acted alone: police

Press Association 22/07/2016

A gunman suspected of carrying out a terrorist shooting in Munich acted alone, police say.

They gave a "cautious" all-clear after identifying a dead suspect believed to be the gunman who killed nine people.

They also said at least 21 people were wounded in the rampage.

The attacker opened fire near in a shopping centre near to the city's Olympic Stadium on Friday night, sending crowds running for their lives.

German police say there will be a press conference about the shooting in around 2am local time (1000 AEST).

The city's transport network, which was shut down during the attack, had reopened at around 1.15am local time.

An initial examination of the ninth body, found about 1 kilometre away from the shopping centre, showed he had died a violent death, police said. A red rucksack he was wearing is being checked for explosives.

Munich authorities activated the country's elite counter-terrorism units GSG 9 and BFE+ and asked for reinforcement from police units across the country.

Authorities had asked residents not to leave their houses and to avoid public places. The city's central train station was evacuated and public transportation was brought to a halt.

The Bavarian parliament and rail operator Deutsche Bahn were among those to open their doors to residents unable to reach their homes for cover.

The shooting started at 5.52pm on Friday (0152 AEST Saturday) at a McDonald's in the shopping centre. Police and emergency vehicles could be seen outside the shopping centre and helicopters were flying over the city.

There have been no other terrorist incidents in Munich, police said, refuting reports in German media about an incident at Karlsplatz square, also known as Stachus, near the city centre and about five kilometres from the Olympia shopping centre.

The German government called a crisis meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, but Chancellor Angela Merkel was not yet in attendance, chancellery sources told DPA.

The country's national security council, headed by Merkel, will meet in Berlin on Saturday, her chief of staff Peter Altmaier said.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, Germany's top security official, was returning from the United Sates to attend.

Germany has been on high alert since Monday, when an Islamist asylum seeker injured five people in a knife-and-axe attack on a commuter train headed to the southern city of Wuerzburg.